Carlos Silva returned to the mound on Tuesday night and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Not only did Silva look like he had put on a pound or two (or 10) during his stint on the DL, it didn’t like he wanted to be out there at all. After Silva gave up a run right away in the 1st inning, the Cubs rallied to give him a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning. But Silva did his best to give it right back. Silva gave up 3 more runs in the 2nd inning and was ultimately charged with 6 ER in 5 innings of work. The light-hitting Astros knocked Silva around for 9 hits (including 1 home run) as they cruised to an easy victory. Silva had not pitched since he left an August 1st game against the Colorado Rockies with an irregular heartbeat after recording just 1 out. Silva had a cardiac ablation surgical procedure to correct the issue and made 2 Class A Peoria starts before pitching last night. Silva said he felt OK — “I feel really good, especially after the second inning, I felt more comfortable on the mound, but the result wasn’t good at all.” I know the Cubs want to make sure he is OK in 2010 so that they know what they have for the 2011 MLB season. Silva could stay with the team or the Cubs could try to move him in the off-season if the price is right (the Cubs would likely have to eat some of the $10 million owed to him in 2011). But it would be nice to see some of these other young guys get some starts instead of a veteran like Silva, especially if he really isn’t ready for live game action.

The Cubs offense didn’t do much against Nelson Figueroa after they scored 2 runs in the 1st inning. Tyler Colvin and Kosuke Fukudome each had 2 hits in the loss. Colvin had 2 RBI’s while Marlon Byrd drove in the Cubs other run and scored a run as well.

Thomas Diamond and James Russell bounced back from rough outings in Sunday’s 18-5 loss to the Mets. Each reliever gave up 5 ER in the loss, but Diamond tossed 2 scoreless innings with 2 K’s last night and Russell worked a scoreless 9th inning with 1 K.

Mike Quade opted to keep Starlin Castro out of the Cubs lineup for a 2nd straight game. I liked his move to keep Castro out on Monday, but 2 days in a row? There’s only 20 odd games left in the season. We want the shortstop star of the future to see as much MLB-action as possible in his rookie season. Let’s get him back in the lineup Mike!

Randy Wells looks to get the Cubs their 3rd straight series win tonight at Wrigley Field. It won’t be easy as the Cubs must go up against Bret Myers who has limited the Cubs offensive production in recent starts (Myers has started 3 games against the Cubs this season — 2-0 record, 4 ER in 22 2/3 innings pitched, only 17 total hits with 26 K’s). Could be a long night Cubs fans…

Oh yeah – the Ricketts Family and the Cubs unveiled a 3rd statue before the game – Billy Williams’ sweet swing was placed right outside the Captain Morgan Club at the corner of Sheffield and Addison streets. The Williams statue sent the Harry Caray statue packing to the corner of Sheffield and Waveland in front of the entrance to the Bleachers. The Ernie Backs statue is still located by the main box office at the corner of Addison and Clark streets.